Honduras' Zelaya says to meet coup backers on Thursday

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Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya speaks to the media from a car as he leaves a shopping mall in Managua July 6, 2009.
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Police stand near the presidential residency in Tegucigalpa July 6, 2009. Honduras blocked ousted President Manuel Zelaya's return from exile on Sunday and the country faces growing international isolation for staging Central America's first military coup since the Cold War.
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Soldiers and police run to block the road near the presidential residency in Tegucigalpa July 6,2009. Honduras blocked ousted President Manuel Zelaya's return from exile on Sunday and the country faces growing international isolation for staging Central America's first military coup since the Cold War.
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A supporter of ousted Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya gestures after soldiers fired tear gas at a protest at the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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Police and soldiers block the airstrip of the Toncontin international airport to prevent the landing of a plane carrying Honduras' ousted president Manuel Zelaya in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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Supporters of ousted Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya take cover as soldiers fire tear gas at a protest at the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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Soldiers stand guard on the runway at the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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A protester holds a photograph of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in San Pedro Sula July 5, 2009.
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Police officers walk in between supporters of ousted Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya during a protest outside the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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Supporters of ousted Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya try to climb a wall to enter inside Toncontin international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5,2009.
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Police stand guard as supporters of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya protest outside the entrance to the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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A rescue worker attends to an injured supporter of ousted Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya after soldiers fired tear gas at the protest at the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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A protester holds a Honduran flag as another kneels down and prays at the fence of the Toncontin international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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A supporter of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya shouts after soldiers fired tear gas at the protest at the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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A protester cries after a battle between soldiers and supporters of ousted president Manuel Zelaya at the Toncontin international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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Passengers walk past a soldier as they enter the international airport in San Pedro Sula July 5, 2009.
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A soldier stands guard at the international airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras July 5, 2009.
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A supporter of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya holds a banner with his picture next to soldiers at a protest at the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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A paramedic and a man help an injured supporter of ousted Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya at the Toncontin international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.
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Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez speaks to Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya during a news conference at Comalapa International Airport July 5, 2009.
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The ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya (3rd R) speaks to the media next to Presidents Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (2nd L) of Argentina, Rafael Correa of Ecuador (L) and Fernando Lugo (R) of Paraguay during a news conference at the international airport of Comalapa, 45 km (30 miles) from San Salvador July 5, 2009.
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The airplane carrying ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya flies near the Toncontin international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009. Zelaya turned back from an attempted return home on Sunday after soldiers clashed with his supporters as he tried to land, fueling tensions over the coup that toppled him.
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Soldiers stand guard on a runway at at the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya turned back from an attempted return home on Sunday after soldiers clashed with his supporters as he tried to land, fueling tensions over the coup that toppled him.
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Police officers walk on landing strip to prevent the landing of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya at Toncontin international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5, 2009.Zelaya turned back from an attempted return home on Sunday after soldiers clashed with his supporters as he tried to land, fueling tensions over the coup that toppled him.
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A security guard helps a bank employee to board up the bank's entrance before a demonstration by supporters of ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya in San Pedro Sula July 4, 2009.
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Soldiers stand guard as supporters of Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya arrive after a march at Toncontin international airport in Tegucigalpa July 4, 2009.
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A supporter of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya holds up a sign during a protest in front of the Honduran embassy in Mexico City July 2, 2009. The sign reads 'Say no to violations against the civil liberties and basic individual rights of Honduran people'.
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Supporters of Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya take part in a march near the presidential house in Tegucigalpa July 1, 2009.
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WASHINGTON Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday accepted a U.S.-backed effort by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to mediate an end to the political crisis in Honduras and said talks with his rivals would begin on Thursday.

"Our first meeting is set for Thursday, in Costa Rica," Zelaya, told Honduran radio from Washington.

In Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, who was appointed president by Honduran lawmakers after the June 28 coup, also said he would attend Thursday's talks under Arias' mediation.

"What this is is not a negotiation, this is the planning of the exit of the coup leaders," he said.

But Micheletti maintained his position that Zelaya could not return as president. "We're not going to negotiate, we're going to talk," he said. "We're going into these talks because we're interested in having peace and tranquility in Honduras."

Zelaya, whose ouster was sparked by his efforts to change presidential term limits and by his political shift to the left, spoke after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

She urged him to negotiate rather than try to force his way back into the country.

Zelaya had tried to fly home on Sunday, but the interim government stopped his plane from landing. At least one person was killed when troops clashed with pro-Zelaya protesters who went to the airport in the capital, Tegucigalpa, to meet him.

The coup in the impoverished Central American coffee and textile exporter has been widely condemned abroad, and posed a diplomatic challenge for U.S. President Barack Obama.

The Organization of American States took the rare step to suspend Honduras on Saturday after Honduras' interim authorities defied its ultimatum to reinstate Zelaya. But the group has failed to find a solution to the crisis.

ARIAS ROLE

Arias declined to speculate about the prospects of success in the mediation.

"What I would like is not to let them leave until there is an agreement," he said in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose.

Clinton said all issues should now be settled in talks with Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for helping to end political violence in Central America.

"I believe it is a better route for him to follow at this time than to attempt to return in the face of the implacable opposition of the de facto regime," Clinton said of Zelaya.

"So, instead of another confrontation that might result in a loss of life, let's try the dialogue process and see where that leads," she added.

While backing a restoration of "the democratic, constitutional order" in Honduras, Clinton did not explicitly call for Zelaya to return to power, saying this should be negotiated by the parties themselves.

Some analysts wondered whether the United States may be tempering its support for Zelaya, although Obama said he said he should return to power.

"America supports now the restoration of the democratically elected president of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies," Obama said in a speech in Russia.

"We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not," he added.

The United States has repeatedly condemned the coup in Honduras, which has a population of 7 million and is the third poorest country in the Americas after Haiti and Nicaragua.

ARGUMENTS FOR OUSTER

Defying the international pressure, Micheletti has insisted Zelaya was legally removed.

Micheletti said in Tegucigalpa that if Zelaya returned to Honduras, it should not be as president but to face charges in the courts. "He committed crimes and he must pay for them," he said.

Micheletti's interim government says the ouster was a constitutional transition carried out by the army and supported by the Supreme Court because Zelaya had illegally tried to organize a vote on changing presidential term limits.

Zelaya took office in 2006 and had been due to leave in 2010. He had riled the country's traditional ruling elite with his leftward shift and growing alliance with Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chavez.

In the Honduran capital, several thousand anti-Zelaya demonstrators packed into a main plaza, waving blue and white national flags and posters ridiculing Chavez, who many accused of meddling for backing Zelaya -- nicknamed "Mel".

"We don't want Mel back. Those people were going to take us to socialism," said Carlos Ramos, a teacher and retired air force officer who was taking part in the protest.

Several thousand supporters of Zelaya led by his wife, Xiomara, staged their own rally.

"They say there is peace in the country, but how can there be peace if people cannot leave their neighborhoods ... if there is a curfew, if they are suspending people's rights and the army is out repressing the people," Xiomara Zelaya said.

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